Has Gase Grown as a Head Coach?

There has been a lot of talk about this regime, but I felt Adam Gase deserved his own article. He has worked with the likes of Nick Saban, Steve Mariucci, Rod Marinelli, Mike Nolan, Josh McDaniels but I feel like he is primarily part of the John Fox coaching tree. However, there is something I must get off my chest first.

I’m a little bias towards Dolphins head coach Adam Gase. He’s drafting my Bama boys. That’s one way to get me on your side. He’s young and passionate. Seems to have a high football IQ. Speaking of youth, he is the youngest head coach ever hired by the Miami Dolphins. That alone is breaking barriers. Considering that last 4 head coaches we had, the youngest one before Gase was Cam Cameron and he was 45, 46 at the time. So, again it’s stepping outside the norm and doing something unorthodox by the Dolphins. Let’s move on.

Dolphin fans were going crazy during the 2015 season after then Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin had been fired. Gase’s name was mentioned a couple times among the Dolphin faithful. My initial reaction was this. He came from a football family. He worked with the Superbowl Champion Denver Broncos. He was young which like I said before is a step away from the traditional hires by this franchise. But this would be his first NFL head coaching gig. (The fifth hire in a row for the Miami Dolphins) and he was offensive-minded (The fourth in a row in that category). So, he had some things working for him, but he also had things working against him too.

With all that being said, I didn’t necessarily want a proven Head Coach, but I wanted someone who at least knew what to expect in the role and it would have been nice if he was defense-oriented. Suffice it to say, it didn’t happen and just like the previous 4 regimes, this fanbase is left to suffer the growing pains of this regime. To this regime’s credit, the last 2 drafts have been mainly to rebuild the defense.

When he was hired, people started calling him a QB Guru. After 3 years, I don’t feel like he is a QB guru. He has done nothing to elevate Osweiler’s, Tannehill’s or when they were here, Moore’s or Cutler’s game. Now, he drafts a QB in the 2019 draft and grooms him, maybe I will change my mind about that.

Miami Dolphins coach Adam Gase stands on the sideline during the first half of the team’s NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Gary Landers)

The other thing people were calling him was the Cutler Whisperer. That was so ironic because before they started interviewing Gase for the Head Coach position, they interviewed Mike Shanahan twice before he turned the Dolphins down. Shanahan was the guy who drafted Jay Cutler when he was with the Denver Broncos. As I said before, Gase even while in Chicago did nothing to elevate Cutler’s game.

Ever since Gase has been here, he has shown he likes to run the RBs by committee and that is fine with me because you can never have enough RBs. He has also shown that if the Dolphins are to be competitive every year, that the defense has to be rebuilt and this regime is doing that.

What I like to see more of is respect for the o-line. I don’t know what it is with these offensive-minded head coaches, but they treat the o-line like it’s got kooties. Sparano worked on the left side of the o-line but not the right. Philbin had tackles and a center but was prejudice towards guards and those guys were o-line coaches too. Gase needs to draft o-linemen every single year until he gets it right. He’s got plenty of playmakers but no one to protect them.

Speaking of play-makers, I think Gase has an idea of what he wants to do at receiver but ever since Albert Wilson went on IR, I have been questioning Gase’s game planning. His offense hasn’t scored a TD in 2 weeks. That’s his fault. I mean, he’s got the RBs. He’s got receivers. He’s got so many TEs. There really is no excuse for that. Now, Grant is gone for the year. What is Adam Gase going to do now?

Tannehill is back. But, for fans to suggest that he somehow is going to ball out and have the best 6 games of his career is laughable. If he can get through these 6 games without any further injuries especially with the o-line that is tasked with protecting him, that would be a major accomplishment.

I think it is fair to say that Adam Gase just needs more time. I think he has an idea of what he wants at RB and WR but I still think he is trying to figure the QB, o-line and te positions. As for me, I want to see him take a young QB under his wing and develop him but that is contingent on him ending his marriage with Tannehill. I’m not sure, he can do it. He has to start working on rebuilding that o-line. Two o-linemen in the last 3 drafts. Finally, Gase has had so many TEs to work with the last few years. Cameron. Sims. Gray. Duarte. Jones. Thomas. Derby. O’Leary. Gesicki. Smythe. Just pick a pair and be happy! Two TDs in this unit this year. Come on! This offseason proves to be most interesting. I think Gase deserves more time to build this team. But, will Ross give him more time?

1 Comment

Joe
on November 28, 2018 at 5:44 am

I feel Gase falls into the shortcoming of an unsuccessful entrepreneur trying to do everything himself and not delegating responsibility to those in key positions.

The most errant example is Gase acting as HC and OC. It’s unsettling to see the Fins playing poorly as a team at all phases in a game and Gase sitting on the bench trying to make adjustments to the offensive play calling. Hell son! You’ve got a team to run.

The football team manager is the music conductor with wand in hand making sure all departments are producing the desired music. He is not to be leaving the podium to do a flute solo, cymbal crash, or drum roll. No his job is to oversee the whole orchestra and make minute adjustments to obtain the desired results.

As Gase was focusing on offensive play calling during the Jet game he had his free safety take himself out of the game and not return. Gase did not know of this until after the game was over.

Gase will not be the effective leader we need until he divests himself of the offensive play calling and focuses on the BIG PICTURE. But unfortunately I I think it’s too late and he will have to adjust his leadership style IF ever gets another opportunity to lead a team again.